Is treatment burnout a thing?

Treatment burnout is a thing

The best person to speak to if you think this may be happening to you is a qualified psychologist or counselor, preferably one that specializes in oncology or chronic disease management.

What sucks about treatment burnout is you can’t escape it. If you’re feeling overwhelmed at work or at home, feeling like you need to escape from routine, you have steps you can take in an attempt to avoid burnout.
You can go on a holiday, you can shift your working hours, shake up your job description, but with medical treatment you don’t really have a choice but to continue. 

There have been many many days where I don’t want to do it, I dread going to hospital, I’m too tired to attend more appointments, I’m moody because I’m missing yet another party because of my treatment and it sucks.
As someone going through this my advice would be truly immerse yourself in whatever breaks you can get, if you’re someone supporting a cancer patient please try to respect that if they have attended an event, gone on a little trip away, even just go into the office, this may be an escape from an otherwise inescapable agenda. 

Some ways I try to escape the grind of treatment are planning social events for when I am out of hospital and not unwell as hard as this is to predict. I try to get out in nature every day even if it’s only for 5 minutes after I’ve been throwing up all day. I am very lucky to have an incredible support network that knows me well enough to recognise shifts in my mood when I am becoming frustrated with treatment. Telling people that you’re not willing to talk about your diagnosis or treatment at that moment is ok. 

We would never recommend physically pausing or ceasing treatment, such a conversation would only be appropriate for you and your medical team, however, it’s not unhealthy to mentally escape and unwind from treatment for a short while. Life’s about balance and it is important to continue the things you love in addition to treatment, not just because of it.

It is useful to know the warning flags of burnout to help identify yourself or recognise that this may be occurring to someone else.

Common signs of burnout can include:

  • Exhaustion

  • Isolation

  • Escape fantasies 

  • Irritability

  • Anxiety

  • Increasingly cynical outlook

While you cannot escape your health, if you identify in yourself or a loved one signs of burnout or changes in mental state help is always available. 

Some mental health services you can contact free of charge for a chat

Andrew Daubney